Virginia Senate votes to adjourn special session

Republicans immediately decried the move as unconstitutional, though not unprecedented.

The statement said the House of Delegates remains in session, pursuant to Article IV, Section 6 of the Constitution of Virginia.

Lawmakers had ostensibly returned to Richmond for the start of a special session to redraw the state’s congressional map.

“It is clear, given the Court ruling, that the only means to achieve that goal is to take a comprehensive approach that starts from the beginning and erases the taint of racial and partisan politics that poisons the old unconstitutional map”, McAuliffe said.

“If Democrats had their way, they would probably make both the 4th and the 2nd either Democratic-leaning or at least Democratically competitive”, he said.

Should a redistricting bill not pass, or should Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe veto it, the courts would draw new congressional district lines.

That gulf only widened Monday.

Republicans prefer Virginia Court of Appeals Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr., who is African American.

Judges are owed the respect of an interview and vote, Watkins said.

“We have not held ourselves very high in this hour”, Watkins said on the Senate floor.

McAuliffe accused Republicans of rejecting his Supreme Court pick because they are angry that he called them into session for redistricting.

McAuliffe believes the early Senate adjournment gives him the authority to appoint justices because the General Assembly is not in session.

McAuliffe stated this morning that he proceeded simply as former Gov. Tim Kaine did on judicial appointments, however Norment disputed that, saying different governors “all the time had some dialog”.

“We all learned about it in the newspaper, and that did not sit well”, Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. “Tommy” Norment, R-James City, said, Monday on the Senate floor, his voice raspy from a cold.

“All they needed to do was put a telephone name out!”

“If we went through today because of a missed phone call?”

“The Republicans looked small and ineffective”, McAuliffe said. “Are you honestly being serious?”

“I have not talked to anybody in either party that doesn’t think this thing is going to wind up with a three-judge panel drawing the district”, Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said. “But in the scenario where they’re going to end up having to negotiate with Republicans, I’d imagine they would take the 4th”. A lawsuit could eventually force a redrawing of House districts, but a final decision in that case is likely some time away.

But Republicans said the legislature is still in session because the GOP-controlled House has not adjourned.

The dispute led to some tense floor debates and unusually rigorous questioning of Alston during an interview with a panel of legislators.

There’s a September 1 deadline to comply with a court ordered redistricting, though Republicans are hoping for a last-ditch reprieve from the U.S. Supreme Court.

McAuliffe quickly announced he would notify the courts of the breakdown and would renew Roush’s appointment, which otherwise expires next month.

Both sides continued posturing Monday evening with an eye toward November.

In committee, Democrats requested Alston some pointed questions on previous instances, in addition to how his spiritual beliefs would translate into authorized opinion. Alston said he did, in fact, complete the forms, and republicans said Alston was being “dragged through the mud” for political reasons.